Unlike the others Mark was still a bit skeptical about there actually being anything strange going on. Part of him still thought Steve was just bad with time, "Maybe we should get her to build a complete club out." He said sarcastically, "With a lab, a danger room, and maybe even our own batmobile, and a blackbird jet." Mark rolled his eyes.

His tone turned serious, "Let's just call her up, and see if her government contacts can get the tape pulled into a lab for us. Once the call is made, we can get back to our day off."

"Whats wrong? You came here expecting to fight a madman, and instead found a god!?"My Characters

Shelby looked around the area to make sure nobody else was listing. He looked at Bobby and shrugged apologetically and said, "She has offered on more than one occasion to supply u... uh... you guys a place from which work, train, and learn about what's happening to you."

Bobby shrugs in reponse as if to say "stuff happens, what can you do?"

He let his eyes wander across the room as he enjoyed Alanis' presence and warmth. It was nice. But the new town, the museum, it made him think about change.

They'd only be in school for a little longer and then... what?

Alanis was smart. Very smart. She'd be headed off for one of those universities for people like her. MIT or Harvard, or something. Where did that leave him? He'd never make it into those places. And just like that they could end up on the other side of the country from one another.

He paused momentarily at the realization that distance was no longer as big of an issue as it used to to be, at least not for him. Though it would be hard to explain how he could afford to travel such distances. At that point he'd probably have to let her know.

But what would he be doing? His original plan was hoping Raven made it as a star and using that to make his way into the business. Sure, he'd never be a TV or movie star, but there were so many other jobs that were done. But now?

Now what? Getting into hollywood could be a pipe dream, at least that's what it seemed like. For every success story there seemed to be thousands of people who never amounted to anything, working terrible jobs in the hope that some day their ship might come in.

Is that was his life was going to be? Working the night shift at 7-11 and praying for a part in the next big show?

Should he be trying something else? Should he be aiming for a job where he wouldn't be happy, but he'd be wealthy enough to not worry about it?

Would he have somebody like Alanis with him when he got to that point, whatever it was?

For a moment the future just felt too big. There was too many maybes, to many what ifs, and one wrong decision seemed like it could crush his life from then on.

And then he felt Alanis squeeze his arm.

He could almost hear Raven laughing at him.

'You worry too much,' his dead friend would say, 'If you never stop worrying about tomorrow how are you ever going to enjoy today?'

He squeezed Alanis's hand and breathed in slowly but deeply to catch her scent. He smiled.

He was just a kid. He had a few years before he had to really make any hard decisions. All he needed to do was enjoy what he had while he had it, and take things as they came.

Mark might have been sarcastic, but Steven jumped on the opportunity like a lion pouncing a gazelle.

"You are all witnesses: Mark wants to setup a HQ for the team. That's one vote. Shelby came up with the idea. That's two. Sebastian wants a lab. That's three. Jaymie is cool ... so that's an automatic vote there. It's unanimous, we'll talk it over with Mrs. D when we get back home."

Steven said it all in a rush, like a sports reporter calling out a foot ball play, then raised his hands in triumph as though his favorite team had just scored the game's winning touch down. But it faded after a handful of seconds and he addressed the real issue: the hypnotic TV.

"Nah man. We can't wait around, even if they did buy it. We have to take care of this."

A nod was given to the super-nerd to express his support. Then looking to the power couple: Jaymie and mark, he gave them a once over before motioning out into the greater museum. As if encouraging to go forth and explore the cosmos and discover it's mysteries.

"Why don't you love birds work on finding some comet? You two make a nice infiltration team. I'll back up Sebastian here."

The museum is actually a digitally interactive display showing the path of the comet- from somewhere out in the Oort Cloud. Astronomers believe that it had a frequency of once every two or so million years. Spectra-analysis suggests that it might have been a "life-seeding" comet. Since it was destroyed by some unknown force while still in the atmosphere, there is no way to be sure, except to take a something up and collect the ice and dust particles.

Other parts of the exhibit include a climate change projection suggesting a new ice age; as well as displays about the "Cometeers"- a term coined by Doctor Richard Langstrom at Liberty City University to describe the various individuals who've begun to show unusual abilities. There is even a mockup of the fight at Bale's point with artists' rendering of what the Cometeers of Viking Bay may look like, as well as video of Snowhead trying to rescue the Russian Submarine. A caption under that one says that the sub's reactor core was ruptured by some sea creature and the radiation killed the crew.

Steven did his best to not disturb Sebastian while he took stalk of the display and all the information it had to offer. But it was pretty clear holding still and being quiet were not something Steven was good at. The guy was a bundle of dynamic energy waiting to explode. He paced and shuffled about every so often. After a while he just couldn't keep his mouth shut and gave his partner a quick look over.

Alanis shook her head and said, "It could last for years. The ice crystals could increase the the albedo effect and cause global temperatures to drop." She looked over at Shelby for confirmation, but the other boy was currently engaged in studying the video, his face frowning deeply. Looking over at Steve, she said, "There's a guy over there in the corner wearing a lab coat. He may work here."

"They're not just restricted to the atmosphere though, I saw them earlier while I was in the city. They were with some other guy too, at first I though he was a comeeter, but now I'm starting to think that he was something else entirely.

"I'm going to try and cross reference what data they have against some information I was given. Something up there is altering our DNA, hopefully this will fill in some gaps, but it'd still be better if I had a sample of it."